Ouagadougou - Burkina Faso — Sixty-two youths from 11 ECOWAS Member States have successfully completed an intensive training in air conditioning and auto-mechanic engineering organized by the ECOWAS Youth and Sports Development Centre (EYSDC) at Burkina Faso's Reference Centre for Professional Training in Ziniare, some 36-km, east of Ouagadougou, the nation's capital.
The one-month training, which ended on 14th November 2012, was part of the EYSDC's youth empowerment programme, which also includes courses in agro- business, building and electricity. Mr. Simon Taro, who represented the Director of the ECOWAS Centre, Mr. Francis Njoaguani at the ceremony, said the training is to equip the youths with the relevant skills for viable self-employment and also to enable them to become entrepreneurs and job creators in the region. The guest of honour, Burkina Faso's Foreign Affairs Minister, Honourable Yipene Djibril Bassolet, who was represented by Mr. Firnmin N'do, commended the efforts by the ECOWAS Commission in youth empowerment. He said that youths could play a vital role in the development of West African region, and the attainment of the Commission's Vision 2020.
The air conditioning and auto mechanics modules were the first of their type in the series of EYSDC's capacity building training programme. The trainees were taken through the practical and theoretical aspects of the training with modern equipment at their disposal at the Reference Centre. The EYSDC, which derives its mandate from the decision of the 28th Session of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government held in January 2005 in Accra, Ghana, is charged with initiating, developing, coordinating, monitoring and implementing youth and sports development programmes within the Community,. The youth empowerment programme has recorded a huge success, creating thousands of jobs for young people in the community.
The closing ceremony was also attended by the Burkinabe Ministers of Animal Resources and Youth, Dr. Tenga Jereme and Mr. Blaise Corneille Ouedraogo, as well as the Director-General of the Ziniare Reference Centre, Mr Eric Roland Sidnoma Yameogo, and the Taiwanese Ambassador in Burkina Faso Mr.Zhang Ming Zhang.
